2016 Comic Challenge 209 Moon Knight #04

TITLE-Moon Knight #04
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Our group of 4 escapees get confronted by a cop. But Moon Knight/Marc sees him as Sobek. The cop ends up mortally wounding Jean-Paul/Frenchie. So Marc beats his head into the street.

Now down to 3 they make their way to a diner. Gena's Diner,which I remember from the Bill and Doug run on this series.Once she mentions her two sons I had a flood of memories of her in the original series.

Marc and Marlene leave the diner and are heading to the pyramid. They arrive and Marc is knocked in the back of the head by something. He turns to see who/what it was and is shocked to see Moon Knight.

Yeah this is getting really good. I do wonder how much longer before we get a proper answer to if this is all in Marc's head or if the Egyptian Gods are coming back.


Moon Knight #04 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 208 Moon Knight #03

 TITLE-Moon Knight #03
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Holy fuck is this getting good.

Marc,Crawley,Frenchie and the others are down in the subway/ancient Egyption temple. Khonshu shows Marc a way to get out,right when the Doc/Ammunt shows up with some orderlies. The group barely manages to escape. But something Marc sees causes him to doubt himself.

Off to the othervoid.Marc and Khonshu have a long discussion. Were Khonshu explains to Marc that his madness and mental instability are his greatest asset.

With this meta-physical pep talk over Marc runs off to meet up with his friends. They all end up meeting Anubis/a bus driver. Crawley pays Anubis's price of one soul to take them all away.

They reach a dock.Say their goodbyes to Crawley. Find a ladder and think that they are now in NYC. After making it to the surface they see winged people flying thru the skies and a huge pyramid in the middle of NYC.

This is one of the best Moon Knight series I have read since the original series.Lemire realizes that it is Marc's various mental illnesses that make him much much more than Marvel's Bat-clone.

Moon Knight #03 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 207 Moon Knight #02

TITLE-Moon Knight #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Took me a bit to find and then read the second issue of this series. Marc/Moon Knight gets a visit from his power bestowing Egyption God. Who tells him that one of the other gods has crossed over and Marc has to prevent more from doing the same.

Back at the nut house Marc keeps on running into people from his past. Like Frenchie and etc. Then one of the other patients tells Marc they will escape that night. And to go down not up.

That night they make their escape. And end up in what appears to be an abandoned subway station. But instead of people in the subway cars they are packed with mummies.

Moon Knight #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 206 Jughead #05

TITLE-Jughead #05
PUBLISHER-Archie

Been awhile since I read some of this really good series. I let a few issues pile up.

After being told by their parents that their belief that the school is being turned into a secret agent school is insane,our 4 teens start trying to figure out a way to get rid of the new principal Mr Stanger.

They find out he was principal of a school a few towns over. The Archie gang head over and see that in this town each of them has a gender swapped twin. After talking to former student that was in school when Stanger took over,they find out that after a year he disappeared. Right after getting a bunch of the teens to sign up for the military. But the worst is they find out Stanger managed to shut down the local teen hangout in this town. So of course Jughead freaks out and they rush back to Riverdale to check on Pop Tate's malt shop.

Jughead passes out in the car and this issues dream has him as Captain Hero. Teaming up with the rest of the Super Teens and facing their gender swapped twins. We find out that Iron Mantle is behind all the chaos and that story ends.

Back in Riverdale Jughead wakes up in time to see that somehow Stanger got Pop's lease on the shop to end sooner than it should. Jughead admits defeat to Stanger and walks off.

Once this gets a trade of the first story out I am gonna have to buy it.

Jughead #05 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 205 The Walking Dead #156

TITLE-The Walking Dead #156
PUBLISHER-Image

The entire issue is Negan trying to join the Whisperers. And through this we get to learn a bit more about them.

Once he is allowed to join the group Negan quickly lets it be known that he is attracted to the groups female leader Alpha.

After the last 3 pages  I am now wondering where the fuck Kirkman is going with this. That is not a bad thing,it is stuff like this that keeps me reading this monthly instead of waiting half a year for a 6 issue trade.

The Walking Dead #156 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 204 The Walking Dead #155

TITLE-The Walking Dead #155
PUBLISHER-Image

Like the tide the pace of TWD ebbs and flows. This is obviously the start of a big story arch. Michonne is trying to rush back with a wounded man. Dwight is leading a group of troopers in a hunt for Negan. And Negan well.. Negan is in love with Alpha of the Whisperers.

Even the slow issues like this one are engaging enough I don't mind getting this monthly then later on grabbing a physical copy in the Compendium format. The letter page confirms my thoughts on this being the start of a big story arch. Our monthly cast of people will be going to war with the Whisperers. And it is promised to be different and top the All Out War plotline from a bit over 2 years ago.

The Walking Dead #155 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 203 Blue Bolt Volume 07 #03

TITLE-Blue Bolt Volume 07 issue 03
PUBLISHER-Novelty Press

Yep got another slightly beat up but complete Golden Age anthology title. I knew that at one time Blue Bolt was  Kirby and Simon created superhero. But after looking this up,I found the comic months ago but was waiting to buy it and ended up being given it as a early birthday gift,some where in the series Blue Bolt gave up his costume and powers and just became a totally human adventure hero.

I had seen this ad in an old comic before,gotta love Pepsi the Pepsi-Cola Cop.

 The art as you can see,in Blue Bolt is pretty good. And I like the Fleer Dubble Bubble ad on the previous page.

 Sergeant Spook is one of the Golden Age heroes I had heard of IIRC through the Digital Comic Museum. But more on that site at the end of this.

 Yep,a group of kids can call on the ghost of a dead cop to help them solve crime. It's a pretty fun strip.

The inside back cover. Rings,engagement wedding or friendship for $1.94.But hell that was a decent amount in the summer of 46.

But back to the previous mentioned website.The Digital Comics Museum is a site for comic book scans of comics that have fallen into the public domain. So these are totally legal downloads. And there is a few titles there that modern fans would know. Stuff like Shazam/Captain Marvel and Plastic Man. This issue of Blue Bolt is up there. And it is a full cover to cover scan. So if you want to read this issue,and flipping thru the DCM scan their copy is in much better shape than mine,Click here to go straight to the file. Now you do have to join the site to get the comic scans. As for reading it,well I use CDisplay. Google it it is a free comic reader program for Windows.

Overall I really enjoyed this issue. Sure I would have rather had a few more superheroes. But the art on most of the strips was really good. With the cover artist Jim Wilcox doing a great job on Dick Cole.

Blue Bolt Volume #7 Issue #03

2016 Comic Challenge 202 Dark Knight III The Master Race #05

TITLE-Dark Knight III The Master Race #05
PUBLISHER-DC

The main story is the Kandorians attacking Gotham. And how Batman always has a plan. He has seeded the clouds over Gotham with the synthetic Kryptonite. So when the attack happens Batman causes it to rain and now the Kandorians are majorly weakened.

Carrie is out with Aquaman trying to find where Superman is trapped. They find him and free him. And in the last page of the main story we get Supes in a suit of armor backing up Batman as the real battle with the Kandorians has started.

The back up story,well it was kind of boring. Superman and Wonder Woman's daughter is out with one of the Kandorians. Even the art looks boring. This is the worst of the back up stories so far.

Dark Knight III The Master Race #05 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 201 Spawn #010

TITLE-Spawn #010
PUBLISHER-Image,when they were still with Malibu

Yeah the Dave Sim written sermon about creator rights.With Todd being as lazy as he can be with the art,look and you will see lots of the Spawns are copied directly from earlier issues.

When I first read this in the early 90s I had read a bit of Cerebus,12 issues or so. But really didn't know much about Sim.Todd was still being seen as the big guy who told Marvel to fuck off and was out making it on his own.

Of course now after Todd tried to screw Neil Gaiman out of his rights to characters Gaiman created.All the bits about rights and work for hire in this issue are meaningless.

Unless ya gotta own read every issue of Spawn,or appearance of Cerebus,just skip this issue.

Spawn #010 gets a pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 200 Good Old Boys #01

TITLE-Good Old Boys #01
PUBLISHER-Vertigo an imprint of DC

Underneath that gorgeous Glenn Fabry cover is my personal favorite of all the Preacher one shots/mini series.

From before they died,we get a normal night in the life of Jody and TC. After a bit of fishing they head off deeper into the swamp for a bare knuckle brawl.

Once there Jody jumps down into the pit and is ready for the fight. But this time instead of a man he is gonna fight a gorilla.

In another part of the swamp a helicopter has crashed. On  board is your standard Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon ripoff and a lady obviously based on that 90s movie Cindy Crawford did.

Both our duos end up meeting up. Then Saddam Hopper,who has the most unique way of cussing that I have ever seen,sends mercs after the Cindy clone. Seems she has a tape in her panties that will convict Saddam.

Garth Ennis of course writes this one shot. And Carlos Ezquerra,who I knew from various Judge Dredd/2000AD things handles the pencils.

Ennis manages to parody and homage all the 80s action movie tropes in one issue. And isn't all in your face with it like certain other UK Veritgo writers would be.

Good Old Boys #01 get a BUY!